Chance?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Scripps College
1

<p>Hey everyone, i am very interested in the Claremont Colleges, so i was wondering what my chances were at Scripps! </p>

<p>Currently a junior.
Ethnicity: Korean</p>

<p>GPA: 4.0 Unweighted (haven't calculated weighted GPA)
Rank: 1/765</p>

<p>AP's:
took 1 last year (Human Geography) and got a 5.
Am currently taking Calculus AB and Chem AP.
Planning on taking Calculus BC and English AP next year.</p>

<p>all my other classes have been honors.</p>

<p>SAT I: CR-740, Math-710, Writing-680 (essay 10) total-2130
SAT II: Math IIC-790 (taking Chem this June)</p>

<p>Clubs/Activities
-Key Club: member (10th grade), Cabinet leader (11th grade), and will be President next year.
I don't know if it makes a difference or not, but the club has over 400 members.
-Simple Faith (10,11)
-CSF (9,10,11)</p>

<p>School Service:
-Chosen to be part of the National Distinguished School Student Panel (we meet with visitors from the state who judge our school, and we represent and talk about our campus) - was one of two freshmen picked
-Chosen again in 10th grade to be part of the WASC Student Panel (representing the school) - was one of two sophmores
-Junior Honor Guard</p>

<p>got the Principal's Summa Cum Laude Award</p>

<p>i might be interning for my city government (that is still tentative).</p>

<p>so is it a match? reach? any input would be fabulous!!</p>

2

<p>I'd say that it's a match, and has the potential to be a pretty safe match if you work on ECs. That said, the fact that Key Club is 400+ members definitely does make a difference, as it's a lot harder to organize 400 than to organize 12. Be sure to note the club's size somewhere on your applications! Also, it probably means that it's a much greater time commitment. But right now, it looks like your time goes to school and little else.</p>

<p>What I have trouble with is that I look at your stats and see strong numbers, but not much else. Achievement, yes, definitely...but I get no real sense of who you are beyond that. All colleges, and especially small LACs like the Claremonts, will really appreciate a more personal picture of you. Your application, despite strong stats, stands the chance of being overlooked simply because you don't offer any particularly memorable "identifying" information. Make sense?</p>

<p>Also, your SATs are all relatively strong, but the writing score sticks out to me because writing is quite important to/at Scripps. I'm not even sure that the score is being considered yet, and as said, yours is by no means poor, but it does stand out next to your other scores. If you get a chance to take the writing SAT2, perhaps it could work in your favor.</p>

<p>Good luck, and congrats on having done so well so far :)</p>

<p>PS. Scripps student speaking, so my perception of the admissions standards is slightly dated. Take it, as all responses here, with some salt. Meanwhile, if you have any questions about the school, feel free to ask!</p>

3

<p>thank you so much for your response!</p>

<p>how would i show that i have a life outside school?</p>

<p>is it through clubs? because if it is, i'm afraid it is too late to join any others.
also, key club, simple faith and a few others are the only clubs that actually DO anything. most other clubs were started because the students just wanted to put something on their college application.
i personally would rather hang out with friends during lunch than join a club where you just sit around (and do nothing) the entire time.</p>

<p>so if you wouldn't mind, can you share some ideas on how to show "who i am" as a person? it would be greatly appreciated!</p>

<p>do you also have any ideas on how to convince my dad to send me to a school like Scripps? my mom is very supportive of sending me to a liberal arts school, but my dad wants me to go to a well-known university like UCLA or UCSD.</p>

<p>i have a hard time telling him that i would prefer (without question) a small college over a well-known, prestigious, and BIG university. i really want to go somewhere that has a community feel, not one where everyone is competing against each other.
it gets very frustrating, but i guess i can understand where he is coming from since he would have to pay twice as much to send me to a private liberal arts college.</p>

4

<p>Does your dad have a problem with sending you to a LAC because of the expenses, or does he have a problem sending somewhere that isn't "well-known?" Because trust me, Scripps is very prestigious and is by no means easy to get into. The people who matter are the ones who know about Scripps. If it is a money issue, there are scholarships and financial aid, as well as work study jobs. If that is not an option, let him know that your education is important to you and that even if you do get a good education at a UC school, you feel you could thrive a lot more in a smaller environment where the teachers are readily available and the focus is on under-graduates.</p>

5

<p>You might do some searches for some of the many "LACs vs. Universities" threads around here. Lots of debate about why one or the other is preferable...could arm you well for a (respectful, well-researched) conversation with your dad. </p>

<p>But it is a difficult thing to pass up in-state tuition at some of the UCs. I did it myself for undergrad, but am planning to go to a UC for grad school. These things have a way of working out.</p>

6

<p>My daughter was just accepted to Scripps and I would say you are a match.
But I don’t think any private LAC should be taken as a sure thing. Many applicants to Pitzer this year, thought it was their “safety Claremont” and they were waitlisted.</p>

<p>One thing you may need to work on is “what are you passionate about”. You will need to show that in your essays and also the interview. It doesn’t have to be something like curing cancer in your spare time. In one of the Scripps’ newsletters they were showing the diversity of student interests and saying how one student is passionate about fly fishing.</p>

<p>Pat Goldsmith (Dean of Admissions) said something at a session for prospective students and parents that I thought was interesting. She said that they are not just looking for the students with high stats that would be accepted and could flourish at any of the top schools, they are also looking for students that could “benefit” from a Scripps education. So if any of your recommendations could mentioned something about how they think you would “blossom” at Scripps, that might help.</p>

<p>Be sure to apply by the Nov 1st deadline so your app will be considered for a merit scholarship. Also put some thought into the question on the Scripps supplement that asks “How did you first learn about Scripps College, and why have you chosen to apply?”. I think a good answer to that will show admissions that they are not just another checkbox on the common app.</p>

<p>Convincing the parents is a tough one. Our daughter was lucky in that both her parents loved Scripps after the first Preview Day in her JR year and thought it was the best fit for her. Most of her friends only applied to UCs and now that they have been accepted, they are battling with their parents over going to the one they want as opposed to the ones which are ranked higher but in some cases the friend doesn’t think is a fit.</p>

<p>Our daughter also applied to Pomona (was waitlisted), and 5 UC campuses. She was accepted at all 5 UCs (including Berkeley) most with invitations to their Honors Programs, some with Regents and other merit scholarships. But we knew that if she was accepted to Scripps that is where she should go. She may go to a UC for graduate work, but if she had not been accepted to Scripps, the only UC she was seriously considering was UC Irvine with their Honors Program that really tries to make the big UC feel like a smaller LAC. With your stats you should be invited to their Honors Program if you apply to UCI.</p>

<p>On the writing score on the SAT I, I don’t think they are offering the writing SAT2 anymore, so that isn’t an option. My daughter had similar SAT I scores, with mid 700s on CR and Math but then (650 & 660) on writing. Her essay score went up the second time she took the SAT I but the other part of the writing section went down so the total writing score stayed about the same. She also took the ACT with writing and submitted those scores. Scripps may be looking at the SAT I writing score next year since the college board published the percentile ranks for it. Your 680 score is in the 94th percentile. When my daughter took the SAT I last year they were still gathering data on the writing section and didn’t gave a percentile.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/highered/ra/sat/SATPercentileRanks.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/highered/ra/sat/SATPercentileRanks.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Note: Scripps requires a graded writing sample and also a list of books you read the last year.</p>

7

<p>thank you so much!
all of the advice have been so helpful, and i will take them all into serious consideration!</p>

<p>once again, thank you!</p>

<p>and kcpdmp, congrats to your daughter for all her acceptances! she must be very accomplished.</p>